The armed forces save: "Must review the plans"

The savings during the rest of 2026 are due to the Armed Forces recruiting many civilian employees, according to Bo Berg, head of the Defense Staff's implementation unit.

Already today, the authority has employed as many civilians as it planned to have by 2030.

- We reduce the growth rate to balance our economy so that ambitions and resources match, says Bo Berg.

According to him, the authority has not issued any employment freezes, but the number of civilian new hires is decreasing.

The autumn's savings mean that the Armed Forces have cut back on training and exercises within, among other things, the Home Guard and the Army.

- You might carry out a smaller combat firing within the framework of an exercise to keep your financial framework, says Bo Berg.

He does not consider it a matter of any radical measures, such as canceling major exercises with military units, but he admits that the savings will have consequences.

- Naturally, this will affect the development of our abilities in some way. But our assessment is that the impact is not that great, says Bo Berg.

At the same time, the armed forces look towards 2027 and note that that year will be leaner than the authority previously thought.

- We will have slightly less funds next year than we planned for. So we have to review the plans and operations, says Bo Berg.

This is due, among other things, to new NATO missions, such as supporting the air defense in Poland. The anti-aircraft regiment LV6 is sending 100 soldiers and Patriot batteries to Rzeszów for six months starting in December.

- We are also not fully compensated for inflation. Measures will be needed, says Bo Berg.

What could it be?

- What we are looking at is the rate at which we will hire staff. At what rate can we afford to build infrastructure. Then it's about prioritizing. The most important thing we are doing is the deterrence operations in NATO.

Russia's war in Ukraine and the country's hybrid attacks against the West have put Sweden and Europe in the worst security situation since World War II.

The armed forces are already involved in several NATO missions. The army sends a force from P7 in Revingehed to Latvia. In Boden, I19 is responsible for building up FLF Finland.

In addition, the navy participates in Baltic Sentry, which monitors the Baltic Sea, and parts of the air force have been based in Poland, among other things, to protect against drones and robots.

- It will be a greater cost than if we had not been involved and instead only conducted regular training. The advantage is partly that we deter, partly that we increase our war formation capability. All these efforts mean that we gain experience, says Bo Berg.

The savings do not affect conscription training and the decision to build up four Swedish brigades, large army forces with approximately 5,000 soldiers.

- My opinion at the moment is that those parts hold. But you have to be clear that we donated a lot of material to Ukraine, says Bo Berg.

A large part of the support to Ukraine is army material such as Archer pieces, combat vehicles and tanks. New orders have been placed, and they are needed for the brigades to be ready according to plan.

- A prerequisite is that those deliveries arrive. In any case, we still have no reports of any major delays, says Bo Berg.